Rafael Nadal is wary of the fact he has everything to lose and Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios nothing when they meet in the last 16 at Wimbledon.
The world No.1 beat Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (7-4) 6-1 6-1 6-1 under the Centre Court roof on Saturday to set up fourth-round clash on Monday with 19-year-old wildcard Kyrgios.
Asked about Kyrgios as a potential opponent, Nadal said he did not know a great deal but had watched the rising star’s five-set second-round defeat to Frenchman Benoit Paire at the Australian Open in January.
“He’s a young player and young players are very dangerous as always the young players have something special,” Nadal said.
“They are able to play with no pressure. They are fresh.
“Is good to have new players on tour.
“He has a great serve. He’s an aggressive player. I saw him few times but not 50 times like other players so I cannot talk too much.”
Kyrgios, who beat unseeded Czech Jiri Vesely 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-2, was among the players to finish matches on outside courts but rain forced All England Club officials to cancel 45 matches until Monday.
Two of those were third-round men’s singles between Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka and Denis Istomin, and Feliciano Lopez’s clash with the only remaining American John Isner.
Nadal, the champion in 2008 and 2010, said he was slowly coming round to the idea of playing under the Centre Court roof even if it was also closed when he suffered a bruising second round defeat to Lukas Rosol in 2012.
“When you play with some wind, when you play outdoors, the court is a little bit more dry. When you play indoors, humid days, the court is a little bit more slippery. That makes the match a little bit different,” explained the 28-year-old.
“In general the roof is great because there is lot of light coming in, so your feeling is not that you are closed, completely closed, like an indoor tournament. I think that’s better for us.”
Nadal has reached the second week at the All England Club for the first time since he was the runner-up in 2011.
The Spaniard has lost the opening set of all three of his matches so far this year but he is looking on the bright side.
“I finished all the matches playing better than (how) I started, and that’s always very positive,” Nadal said.
